Zack Polanski Says Two-Party Politics Is Dead After Green Wins in Hackney and Lewisham

Zack Polanski said Britain’s two-party politics is “dead and buried” after the Green Party won its first-ever elected mayors in Hackney and Lewisham and took control of Norwich, Hastings and Waltham Forest.

“The United Kingdom’s Green Party leader Zack Polanski, a 43-year-old self-styled “eco-populist” presenting himself as a progressive alternative to Keir Starmer’s governing Labour Party, is banking on a political breakthrough in British local elections this week”

Al Jazeera

In Hackney, Zoë Garbett defeated Labour to win the mayoralty with 35,720 votes to Labour’s 26,865, and Polanski said the result showed “the new politics is the Green Party versus Reform.”

Al Jazeera

The BBC said the Greens also won their first two members elected to the Welsh Parliament and that the Scottish Greens won their first-ever constituencies at the Scottish Parliament.

Polanski framed the gains as a shift away from Labour, telling supporters that “Two-party politics is not just dying, it is dead, and it is buried.”

Polanski used the election results to press Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to step down, saying “My message to Keir Starmer is it’s time to go,” and adding that “the country has clearly rejected you.”

The BBC reported that Polanski said people were voting for the Greens because they were “disillusioned” with Labour, while Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward said the party had “massively increased our vote share pretty much everywhere we’ve stood”.

BBC

In a different framing of what the results mean, the Spectator said the Greens’ bigger story was “the failure of the Greens to make any meaningful breakthrough,” and it contrasted the Greens’ net gain of 25 seats with Reform UK’s larger gains.

Polling expert Sir John Curtice told the BBC that the Greens recorded their “best-ever performance,” with a projected national share of the vote of 18% behind Reform UK on 26% and ahead of Labour and the Tories on 17% each and the Liberal Democrats on 16%.

The BBC said the Greens’ increased support paved the way for seats in different parts of England, including Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Oxford and Exeter, after the party gained control of Norwich, Hastings and Waltham Forest and won the mayoral contests in Hackney and Lewisham.

“WATCH: Zack Polanksi reacts to Green Party Hackney win and outlines future plans GB NEWS 'It's very clear that the new politics is the Green Party versus Reform,' Mr Polanski declared Zack Polanski has declared that “two-party politics is dead” as he threw down the gauntlet to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK”

GB News

In Hastings, the Guardian reported the council leader Glenn Haffenden said the results were “beyond our wildest dreams,” and he linked the shift to a budget the council had passed and a surplus that allowed spending back into Hastings.

The Guardian also quoted Haffenden saying “I think Zack has been one of our biggest reasons as to why we’ve done so well in Hastings,” while noting the Greens’ push for an alternative to Labour’s “failing Labour government” through the new mayor Zoë Garbett.

Meanwhile, the Times described the broader political stakes as Polanski’s Greens securing “their first directly elected mayors” in Lewisham and Hackney and gaining control of five councils, while also noting that a dozen Labour MPs including David Lammy hold seats in areas the Greens won.